


Night Terrors

by Kelticmoon



Category: Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Bullying, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21880798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: When Cheetor gets infected with a psycho-toxin from Tarantulas, its up to the other Maximals to save him.
Relationships: Cheetor & Optimus Primal, Cheetor/Optimus Primal, Cheetor/Optimus Primal (Transformers), Optimus Primal & Rhinox
Kudos: 13





	Night Terrors

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before my Thrill of the Hunt fic but when I wrote Thrill of the Hunt, Hippa didn't exist as a character.
> 
> Moving some of my Deviantart stuff here

The evening sun begins to set over a forest meadow as a Silverback Gorilla strolls into the clearing. He stops for a moment and looks around, examining his surroundings. He spots a spider building its web and hears the croaking of the frogs. He then hears movement in the tall grass near him. He looks and sees a cheetah jumping around in the tall grass. Whenever he lands, the grasshoppers in the grass get startled and jump away, making the cheetah start to giggle. He's so engrossed in what he's doing, he doesn't notice the gorilla sneak up on him until he turns and runs smack into the gorilla’s chest, landing on his back.

“Sorry Big Bot. I didn’t see you there.”

The cheetah corrects himself as the Maximal leader gives him a stern look.

“Cheetor, I could have been a Predacon. You need to always be on your guard when you’re in the field.”

“Aw come on, Optimus; lighten up.”

Optimus sighs.

“Cheetor, we’re supposed to be scouting. We're in a war.”

"My mom always said you should seize moments of levity, especially in times of war.”

Optimus raises an eyebrow.

“Did she now?”

The youngster nods as he crouches down to scare some more grasshoppers.

“She said that hardship, pain, and fear are parts of life, whether you’re fighting in a war or not. She said that happiness could be found in the littlest things, and no matter how rough it is; there is always a reason to smile.”

At that moment Cheetor jumps and when he comes down, a bunch of grasshoppers hop away, making the youngster giggle as he continues.

“You just have to be willing look for it.”

"I guess I can see the wisdom in that."

Cheetor jumps again and scares more grasshoppers.

"Besides, isn't watching each others backs the whole point of scouting in pairs?"

"That's... true."

"Not to mention, with the exception of maybe Tarantulas, the Preds aren't exactly what you'd call "subtle"."

Suddenly, a large flock of birds gets startled and flies away, catching both Cheetor and Optimus' attention. Terrorsaur, Waspinator, and Scorpanok come into view.

Cheetor looks at Optimus.

"Case and point."

The three Predacons transform and attack the pair in an apparent ambush.

Both mechs take cover so they can transform and counter-attack.

Optimus takes on both Waspinator and Terrorsaur using his wrist guns while Cheetor goes toe to toe with Scorpanok.

The battle goes fairly well, Optimus easily takes out Waspinator and focuses on Terrorsaur while Cheetor takes out Scorpanok by himself.

Just as Optimus takes out Terrorsaur, Tarantulas steps from behind a boulder and takes aim at Optimus with a strange arrow on his arrow launcher.

Cheetor sees it right before Tarantulas fires.

“Optimus! Look out!”

He jumps in front of the Maximal leader.

Optimus turns just in time to see Cheetor take the hit and get thrown to the ground.

“No!”

Optimus angrily pulls out his shoulder guns and quickly fires at the arachnid, chasing him off.

Optimus runs to Cheetor’s side just as he goes into stasis lock. He quickly picks up the younger mech and flies him back to base as fast as he can.

~

On the Darksyde, Tarantulas reports to Megatron.

“Package has been delivered, Lord Megatron, though not in the intended target.”

Megatron narrows his optics at the arachnid as he sits in his chair.

“Explain.”

“That meddling feline jumped in the way and was infected with it instead.”

“Hmmm…”

Megatron thoughtfully strokes the head of his beast form like a beloved pet.

“This may work out better… With the fastest of the Maximals down, they’ll be determined to get the antidote. Now all we have to do is wait, yess...”

~

On the Axalon, Rhinox and Hippa are running a diagnostic on Cheetor while he repairs.

“So what’s the situation with Spots here?” Rattrap asks.

Rhinox and Hippa both frown.

“Hmmm…”

“What’s wrong?” Optimus Primal asks.

Hippa looks at him with a frown.

“Nothing’s wrong; that’s what...”

“What da ya mean, ‘nothing’s wrong’?”

Rattrap gets silenced with a look from Hippa as Rhinox explains.

“Aside from the obvious damage caused by Tarantulas’ arrow, the computer isn’t detecting any kind of virus or contagion."

"Which means, either the arrow didn't do anything or, more likely, its something we can't detect yet," Hippa concludes.

At that moment, the R Chamber door opens and Cheetor steps out.

“Hey Spots! How ya feelin’?”

“Tired… but otherwise I feel fine.”

“Well if you start to feel anything, you let us know ASAP; understand?” Hippa tells him, kindly.

~

A few days after the fight, Cheetor awakens with a start.

For a second, Cheetor forgets what woke him up. Then, he hears it again.

White noise; very faint, but there nonetheless.

Thinking something is wrong with his comlink; he gives his auditory sensors a little smack and shakes his head. It seems to clear for a while and he goes back into recharge, only to awaken hours later by the same thing. Again, he shakes his head and it clears.

This time he gets up and goes on patrol.

As the days turn into a week, the white noise becomes whispers and they are a constant thing now, but only when he's alone. He can’t make out words; it's too soft and fades in and out. Whenever he goes to Hippa to tell her about it, it stops. As soon as he's alone in his room it would start up again.

In an attempt to stop the whispers, he tries to stay with the others as much as he can.

He usually helps Hippa with various tasks she needs to have done, but more often he finds himself turning to the other Maximals to help with projects or just stay near them. Usually the others don't’t mind, but now everyone except Hippa, Tigatron, and Airazor is starting to get annoyed at how often Cheetor seems to be getting under foot.

Around this time is when the nightmares start.

Cheetor is no stranger to nightmares, so he doesn’t think much on it.

However, it isn’t long before Cheetor realizes that these nightmares are not the same.

They occur every time Cheetor goes into recharge and they are steadily growing worse and worse.

Each dream is different, but they always have common elements.

They are all set in various places from Cheetor’s past and he is being chased by a dark figure in almost all of them all.

One morning, two weeks after the battle, Cheetor awakens from another nightmare.

Suddenly, Cheetor gets the distinct feeling he's being watched; the problem was no one was there.

For a while, he thinks his processor is playing tricks on him.

Then he hears it.

The familiar crazed cackle of the psychotic spider Predacon.

He frantically looks everywhere for the source, but finds nothing.

Scared, he goes to tell Optimus; only to find as soon as they are in the same room together, the sound stops. As soon as he returns to his quarters, it returns.

This goes on for a few nights, getting worse as the days pass. Now he isn't just hearing the spider, he's seeing him as well, but again, its only when he's alone in a dark room.

All the while, the nightmares continue, getting worse as each day passes.

He recharges with the light on now.

Cheetor has kept what is happening to him hidden up until this point.

He can tell the others are getting annoyed with him for hanging around them all the time, especially whenever Cheetor accidentally breaks something he's helping them build. His fatigue is effecting his coordination and making him clumsier than usual.

It's to the point that Rattrap and Dinobot both yel at him several times to sit down and stay out of the way.

~

One night after a horrid nightmare that left him scared to death, Cheetor knows he needs help.

Normally he would go to Hippa, who he knows would always be there if he needs her. However Hippa and Rhinox share quarters on base; being mates and all. He feels really awkward asking them if he could sleep in their room with them, especially after Cheetor accidentally destroys a gizmo Rhinox had been building, prompting Rattrap and Dinobot to yell at him again.

Finally he decides to go to Optimus.

If he was in his right mind, he probably would have gone to Optimus the following morning when the Captain is already awake, but fatigue from the nightmares is affecting the younger mech’s judgment.

He almost loses his nerve at the door.

Cheetor knows the Maximal captain is recharging and that he shouldn’t disturb him, but Cheetor’s need for help is overriding his caution.

He knocks lightly on the door.

A few cycles later, Optimus opens the door.

“Cheetor… it’s almost 0200.”

Cheetor stammers from nerves and fatigue.

“I know it is…I’m sorry… but I need help... I had a nightmare.”

The tired Optimus doesn’t notice the stammer right away and after weeks of being annoyed with Cheetor’s antics becomes uncharacteristically impatient with the youngster.

“Cheetor, you’re too old for this.”

“I know Big Bot… I’m sorry… but I’m really scared… I don’t want to be alone. Can I stay with you a while? Please?”

“Cheetor, you’re a grown mech. You’re too old to need someone in the room with you when you sleep. Now go recharge!"

Optimus returns to his quarters and closes the door.

Cheetor’s shoulders sag in defeat as he turns and walks back to his quarters.

In his quarters, with the lights on, Cheetor changes into his beast mode and huddles in the corner of his berth facing the door; scared, tired, and alone.

~

For the next several nights, Cheetor stops recharging in an attempt to get the nightmares to stop.

Now his exhaustion is affecting his demeanor and the others are starting to take notice.

Suddenly Cheetor is uncharacteristically subdued and quiet. When he's given scanner duty, he doesn't complain like he usually does, in fact he volunteers for it every night now.

He's listless and lethargic. He jumps at the littlest sound and flinches whenever anyone speeks to him, especially Optimus.

The Maximal captain quickly notices this and regrets snapping at the youngster the other night.

In hopes of making up for it, Optimus offers to go scouting with Cheetor through a quiet sector that's close to the base.

As soon as they leave base, Optimus notices something is very wrong with Cheetor.

Normally, Cheetor is chasing butterflies or pointing out some small detail about the area they were in to Optimus.

Now, Cheetor is treading carefully, staying low in the tall grass of the Savannah; almost blending in. He sticks to Optimus’ side like glue, afraid to go far from it. He seems to constantly be on alert about something.

Cheetor is usually Mr. Energetic and Youthful, but this new overly cautious, fearful Cheetor is something different; and Optimus doesn't like it.

When they get back to the Axalon, Cheetor retreats to his quarters.

Cheetor can't stay awake anymore.

After fighting it off for as long as possible, he falls into a deep recharge cycle.

~

The next day Optimus is lost in thought as he returns to the Axalon from scouting.

He's growing worried about Cheetor. It isn’t like him to be so skittish. True, he always got on Cheetor's case about being more careful when he was away from base, but this is too far the other way.

Whenever Optimus asked him while they were scouting the day before, Cheetor just mumbled something about trying to be more useful and less of an annoyance. Optimus felt a pang of guilt at the younger mech’s words.

He wondered, not for the first or last time, if the way he treated Cheetor a few nights ago had something to do with it.

Was he in some way responsible for this sudden change?

Optimus enters the bridge to find everyone up and about.

Everyone that is, except Cheetor.

“Has anyone seen Cheetor today?”

Everyone shakes their head no.

“Haven’t seen him since the two of you got back from patrol yesterday,” Rhinox says.

“Have any of you noticed how odd Cheetor’s been acting lately,” Hippa asks.

Rattrap scoffs.

“Ya gotta be more specific there, Big Girl. Dat feline’s got more bugs in his system than I can count.”

Hippa's too concerned for Cheetor to care about Rattrap’s remark.

“I’m not sure myself, but he’s hasn’t been his usual cheerful self lately.”

“Now that you mention it, he’s seems a little subdued lately.” Rhinox admits.

“He has been skittish as of late,” Dinobot adds. "Not to mention, uncoordinated."

“I noticed it too,” Optimus says. “I tried to talk to him while we were out scouting. He said something about trying to be more useful.”

Tigatron looked contemplative.

“Where would Little Cat have gotten the idea that he wasn’t useful?”

Tigatron doesn't notice the way his question made Rattrap shift in his seat and Optimus feel even guiltier than before.

Optimus looks at the chronometer. It was almost 1200.

It isn’t like Cheetor to sleep this late either.

Usually he's up with the sun.

Concerned, Optimus goes to check on the youngster.

He knocks on the door of Cheetor’s quarters and waits.

After hearing nothing for a few minutes he goes in. He sees Cheetor sound asleep on his berth.

Then he notices something odd.

For one, all of the lights in Cheetor's quarters are on. Then he notices Cheetor is sleeping in a seated position hugging his knees to his chest while leaning against the wall next to his berth.

That's when Optimus notices the heat vapors radiating off of the youngster.

Concern growing, he walks over and places his hand on the younger Maximal’s forehead, only to pull it back suddenly with a hiss.

Cheetor is overheating.

Badly!

He shakes the youngster gently.

“Cheetor! Cheetor wake up! Please wake up!”

Cheetor groans a little as he falls limp against Optimus, but still sleeps on.

Fear and panic grip his spark as he gently picks up the younger mech.

“Hang on Cheetor. I’ll get you to Hippa. Just hold on.”

He rushes the cat bot to the bridge.

Everyone stops as soon as they see their leader holding the youngest Maximal.

“He won’t wake up.”

Wasting no time, Hippa takes the younger mech from Optimus and rushes him to med bay with everyone following her.

Once there, she places him in the medical scanner for a complete diagnostic.

“Well?”

“He’s under the effects of some kind of cyber-venom,” Hippa states.

“How’d he get infected wit’ it?” Rattrap asked.

After a few moments, the realization hit them all.

“Tarantulas!”

“It must have been on the arrow Cheetor took the day you two had that incident with Tarantulas,” Airrazor says.

Dinobot looks uneasy.

“Cyber-venom, you say?”

Optimus looks at the former Predacon hopefully.

“Yes; do you know something about it?”

“I know of a cyber-venom Tarantulas created. It is a psycho-toxin that causes the victim to have hallucinations and nightmares."

“What kind of hallucinations?” Rhinox asks.

“It… differs, depending on the victim... but he would have heard and seen them only when he was alone in a dark place."

"That explains the lights," Optimus mumbles to himself.

A short silence envelopes the crew as it dawns on them that Cheetor’s constant attention lately was an attempt to self-remedy the hallucinations.

“I don’t understand. We ran a full diagnostic on him when he was repairing. How did we not detect it?” Hippa finally asks, breaking the silence.

“It is… not detectable immediately… It becomes detectable the same day he began to feel the first symptoms, which would have been a few days to a week after. Overtime, they would have gotten worse. What we are seeing right now is Cheetor merely succumbing to them. He would have been feeling the effects for the last several weeks. The inability to wake him as well as him overheating are the final symptoms. If left untreated, his spark will go offline.”

“But it’s been a little over a month since that encounter,” Rhinox says in confusion. “Why wouldn’t Cheetor have gone to anyone about the nightmares or even the hallucinations if he’s been having them the whole time?”

“I can answer that.”

Everyone looks at Hippa.

“Cheetor’s used to having nightmares. He probably brushed it off as nothing unusual. As for the hallucinations, knowing Cheetor he may have felt he could deal with it on his own at first or was afraid to burden us with it. By the time he realized he needed help, he probably was too scared to ask for it.”

The realization hit Optimus at that moment, knocking the wind out of him as he lowers himself into a chair.

Cheetor had gone to Optimus for help that night.

He wasn’t just having nightmares. He was scared and fighting off something he could both see and hear but didn’t understand. He recalls the way Cheetor had stammered that night and how scared he looked. It must have taken every ounce of courage Cheetor possessed to come to Optimus.

Instead of the help he sought, Cheetor had been scolded and had the door slammed shut on him.

Guilt and remorse grip his spark at the realization that he forced Cheetor to fight this fight, alone.

He’d failed him.

“Is there an antidote?” Airrazor asks.

Dinobot nods.

“Tarantulas would have made one. It will likely be either on him or Megatron."

~

_Meanwhile in Cheetor’s processor, the young Maximal is running through a dark street on Cybertron._

_He recognizes it as the streets of Ironmore; the town he was born in._

_Everything around him is on fire and the heat is stifling. Something is chasing him and won't leave him alone._

_He's alone and frightened._

_He turns a corner into an alley and hides to catch his breath._

_Cautiously, he peaks onto the street from his hiding place. It looks like he lost him when suddenly he feels something grab him from behind._

_He cries out for help and starts striking out and kicking at whatever has him._

~

Back in the Axalon med bay, Cheetor starts to thrash and cry out for help on the medical scanner.

Optimus and Rhinox run to Cheetor to try and hold him down. They were having so much trouble holding him that Tigatron, Rattrap, and Dinobot had to help, while Hippa got a sedative.

Hippa injects the sedative into Cheetor’s fluid line. A few seconds later, Cheetor stops screaming and fighting, but he's clearly in a troubled sleep.

“How long does Spots have?” Rattrap asks.

“Well, the poison was meant for Optimus. For him, we would have a stellar-cycle. Because Cheetor is so much smaller than Optimus, at his current rate, he’ll be offline in less than 12 mega-cycles unless he gets that antidote,” Hippa states.

Optimus stands then, assuming command.

That cyber-venom was intended for Optimus, not Cheetor.

He will not fail his friend again.

Not again.

“Then we haven’t a moment to lose. Tigatron; you, Airrazor, Rattrap, and Dinobot go to get the antidote. Rhinox, Hippa, and I will stay here and protect Cheetor in case the Predacons try to interfere. Let’s move!”

~

While the others go to retrieve the antidote, Rhinox and Hippa do everything they can to buy the others more time with Optimus sitting beside the fallen catbot placing cooling cloths on his forehead.

Cheetor has a pained expression on his faceplate as his fever remains steady.

As Optimus sits vigil next to Cheetor, he tries hard to stay hopeful, but as the mega-cycles pass, he begins to fear the worse.

‘What if we lose him?’ he thinks to himself. ‘He’s far too young to go offline. How would we tell his family? Does he have any? He only ever mentions things his mother taught him, but not much else. What about his siblings?’

In wondering these things, Optimus realizes something.

While Cheetor talks a lot, he doesn’t talk a whole lot about himself. He talks a lot about his creator, his “mom”, and things she taught him, but Optimus knew little else about the youngster. Optimus never thought to ask him really. He sincerely wished he had. Cheetor always asks Optimus about his life.

One particular incident comes to mind as Optimus sits beside Cheetor.

-Flashback-

_Optimus and Cheetor had been out scouting together when a fierce energon storm began to roll in. They knew they wouldn’t be able to make it back to base before the storm hit, so they took shelter in a cave until the storm passed, staying in Beast form to protect themselves from the storm. They sat in comfortable silence in their beast modes as the storm raged. As the afternoon faded to evening and then evening became night with no sign of stopping, it became clear that they would be there overnight._

_With nothing else to do, the pair had drifted into recharge, knowing that the Predacons likely wouldn’t be bothering them tonight._

_Around 0100, Optimus was awakened by the sound of someone crying and whimpering._

_Optimus looked around for the source of the sound and found Cheetor asleep on his side._

_From the way his face was scrunched up and the whimpers and cries that were coming from him, it was clear he wasn’t sleeping peacefully._

_Optimus quickly got up and moved to the younger mech’s side._

_“Cheetor! Cheetor, wake up!”_

_Optimus gave the youngster a quick shake in an attempt to awaken him._

_Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Cheetor awoke with a start. He looks around before seeing the Maximal Captain next to him.  
_

_“O…Optimus…I…”  
_

_At that exact moment, a bolt from the energon storm struck the ground outside the cave followed by a particularly violent roar of thunder. Already unnerved by his nightmare, Cheetor jumped and threw himself into Optimus’ gorilla arms, sobbing uncontrollably; catching the older mech completely off guard in the process._

_Optimus recovered quickly and tightened his arms around the trembling cheetah._

_“Shh… It’s ok…It was just a dream…”  
_

_Optimus thought he felt Cheetor shake his head as he buried his face into the gorilla’s chest, not quite finished crying yet._

_“I…mm…so…sorry…”  
_

_“Shh…It’s alright. I’m here… Just let it out…”  
_

_For what felt like a long time, Optimus held the younger mech as he cried._

_After several minutes, when Cheetor’s tears had subsided, Optimus felt the younger mech pull away from him. He lay down not far from Optimus.  
_

_“Do you want to talk about it?” Optimus asked ._

C _heetor curled up with his tail wrapped around himself._

_'Like a cat’ Optimus thought._

_“Not really…”  
_

_Optimus had said, as he settled himself down again._

_“Ok… I’ll respect that. Just know if you ever do, I’m willing to listen.”_

_Cheetor had just nodded as silence enveloped them. After a moment, (hesitation, maybe) Cheetor broke the silence._

_“Optimus?”_

_“Hmm?”  
_

_“What was your life like back home? Growing up, I mean. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”_

_“No, it’s ok.”_

_Optimus hadn't thought much of it at the time._

_“I grew up in a suburb on the north side of Cybertropolis with my parents.”_

_Cheetor scoots closer._

_“Any siblings?”_

_“I’m the second of four actually. I have an older brother, a sister who isn’t that much older than you I suspect, and a younger brother who just became a gamma.”_

_Optimus stretched out so Cheetor could rest comfortably next to him._

_“What was it like growing up with your siblings? What about your creators?”_

_On and on Cheetor asked questions about Optimus’ life and Optimus had answered them to the best of his ability, leaving out only his older brother’s death during the last Great War between Maximals and Predacons and his mother creator dying not long after his younger brother was born._

_Before long, the storm had passed and they could return to base._

-End flashback-

‘Why couldn’t I have done that a few nights ago?’ Optimus laments.

He takes one of Cheetor’s hands into his own.

'He’d had a nightmare then too…'

Suddenly, Optimus remembers something Hippa said earlier.

Optimus looks to the Maximal medic.

“Hippa?”

Hippa doesn't look up from her work.

“Yeah, Hun?”

“You said earlier that Cheetor was used to having nightmares. What did you mean?”

Hippa stops and alternates looking at Optimus and Rhinox for a minute.

Optimus grew up with both Rhinox and Hippa and knows the two of them as well as they know him. While Hippa is a fully trained medic (and a top notch one at that), she's also a fully trained counselor. Optimus knows that Hippa takes her counselor’s oath very seriously and holds her patient’s privacy and trust in the highest regard.

That she stops and looks at them like that means the answer is something personal to Cheetor and she's determining whether to tell them, and if so, how much.

Finally she somehow manages to look both Optimus and Rhinox dead in their optics at the same time.

“This doesn’t leave this room, understand? If I hear any of the others talking about this, I’ll skin both of your hides and theirs; I swear it!”

Optimus and Rhinox both nod quickly and sincerely; both knowing better than to incur Hippa’s wrath. They know full well she is more than capable of following through with her threat.

Hippa sighs before continuing.

“Cheetor has nightmares on a frequent basis. He’s been having them since he was a sparkling.”

“How frequent?” Rhinox asks.

“It varies.”

She returns to work on Cheetor’s fever.

“Sometimes it’s once every couple of weeks, sometimes it’s every day.”

Optimus is surprised at this as he looks at the younger mech.

“Why so frequent?”

"There are a number of reasons. The biggest is sparklinghood trauma. Cheetor’s been through a lot in his young life, so much that the very memory of it gives him nightmares. They happen so often that he’s gotten used to it. They were starting to get less frequent I noticed, present situation notwithstanding.”

“Why were they getting less frequent? Do you know?” Optimus asks genuinely.

A knowing smirk crosses Hippa’s face as she looks at Optimus.

“Oh I know why. I’m just not at liberty to tell you.”

~

Meanwhile Cheetor finds himself in a small windowless room.

He can’t remember how he’d gotten there, but he recognizes it as one of the storage closets that he used to hide in at the Young Bots Home he was sent to live in as a sparklet. He used to hide there from his caregivers and the other young bots who frequently abused and bullied him.

However, this time he's trying desperately to get out of it because, like Ironmore, the closet is on fire.

For some reason, the door is locked (just like it had been when his caregivers had discovered it and refused to let him out of it as a punishment). He pounds on it with his fists, trying to get out as he begs and pleads with anyone to let him out.

He's scared and starts to cry for help as the flames grew closer.

~

An energon tear rolls down Cheetor’s faceplate as he began to cry in recharge.

Optimus gently wipes the tear away as he watches the younger mech face scrunch up from the cyber-venom.

‘He must be in so much pain…' Optimus thinks, as he places a fresh cold compress on Cheetor’s forehead.

Guilt and remorse hold a tight grip on the Captain’s spark as a tear rolls down his own face.

“This is all my fault.”

Optimus hadn't realized he said it out loud until Rhinox steps beside him.

“Optimus, don’t blame yourself.”

Rhinox knew how bad Optimus is when it comes to the mere thought of losing people and how deeply he's grown to care for Cheetor.

“There was no way any of us could have prevented this.”

“But I could have done something... days ago... before it got this bad...”

A second tear joined the first.

Hippa looked up from her work again with a frown.

“What do you mean?”

Optimus' voice is melancholy as he explains.

“Cheetor came to me… in the middle of the night a few nights back… He’d said he needed help… that he’d had a nightmare… he asked if he could stay with me be…because he didn’t want to be alone… He was scared...”

“What did you do?” Rhinox asked, though he and Hippa both knew the answer.

“I… I brushed him off… I told him was too old to need someone sleeping in the room with him…”

Hippa’s temper flares.

She starts to yell at Optimus but Rhinox stops her and shakes his head before stepping in.

“Optimus, you couldn’t have known that he was suffering the effects of cyber-venom.”

“The signs were right in front of us for weeks, Rhinox. How did we not see them?”

Rhinox nods acceptingly. After all, he's guilty of it too.

“We should have known better.”

Optimus looks back at Cheetor's pained expression.

“This should be me! That arrow was meant for me! He risked his life for me, and I couldn't be bothered to sacrifice a little sleep to help him. Cyber-venom or not; there’s no excuse for the way I treated Cheetor that night. If I hadn't brushed him off...if I had let him stay with me...”

He rests his head in his hand that isn’t holding Cheetor’s.

Hippa sighs as she returns to work on lowering Cheetor’s temperature. While Optimus deserves a good aft kicking, it's clear he's doing that well enough on his own.

“Don’t give up on Cheetor so easily.”

Both Rhinox and Optimus look up at her as she continues.

“If anyone else were under the effects of this venom, you included Optimus; I would have said they didn’t stand a chance. I’ve known Cheetor since he was a sparklet. I know he's survived worse than this. He’s a tough young mech with the strongest spirit and will to live of anyone I’ve ever known. No matter what life throws at him, he always manages to bounce back with the biggest smile. He’ll pull through, I’m sure of it.”

“I hope so Hippa.”

Optimus wipes his face.

"If Cheetor doesn't make it... He’s too young for this.”

Hippa chuckles.

“Optimus, that statement should be the motto on Cheetor’s coat-of-arms. Half the slag he's lived through are things he was too young to endure.”

~

_Meanwhile, Cheetor’s nightmare changes again._

_Now he's running through streets and alleys in a large city, which like the last two places, is on fire._

_Despite the flames, he recognizes everything around him._

_This was South Cybertropolis, the day he’d gotten the courage to run away. Just like Ironmore, he's being chased by a dark shadow through the streets and alleys until he comes to a wide chasm that's so deep and so dark, Cheetor can't see the bottom._

_He slides to a halt before he can go off the edge of it and looks frantically for another way out, but sees none._

_He's trapped._

_He turns around as the dark shadow approaches him._

_Only when it gets close does the shadow reveal itself to look like Tarantulas, only twice as scary with red eyes._

_Tarantulas tries to push him over the side, but Cheetor fights back._

_Cheetor fights with all his might against the spider Predacon as he's slowly pushed to the edge of the chasm. He's doing well until his foot slips off the edge._

_Down he falls; the darkness of the chasm swallowing him as he falls._

~

Suddenly, a loud alarm fills the med bay, making the three of them look up at the monitors.

“No…”

Before Optimus and Rhinox can fully comprehended what's going on, Hippa shoves them both out of the way and goes to work.

“What’s happening?!” Optimus asks in alarm, as Rhinox helps him up off the floor.

“Cheetor’s fever finally broke but his spark has stopped pulsating. I’ve got 3 cycles to get it pulsating again, or his spark will extinguish completely.”

Without being told, Rhinox rushes forward to help while Optimus is left to watch helplessly from the sidelines, fear etched on everyone’s face.

“Come on, Cheetor… don’t make a liar out of me…”

At that exact moment, Airrazor flies in holding a vial in her claw that had an amber colored liquid in it. Right behind her was Tigatron.

"The antidote!"

Optimus takes it from her.

“Quick! Give it to Rhinox!”

Rhinox retrieves the vial from Optimus and administers the antidote to Cheetor.

Tigatron and Airazor transform and stand next to Optimus as they watch Rhinox and Hippa work to get Cheetor’s spark going.

“Come on, Little Cat…”

"Come on, Cheetor..."

Fear grips Optimus’ spark as he watches failed attempt after failed attempt.

All he can do is pray.

‘Please Primus, don’t take him… he’s too young… Please... I'm sorry...’

Hippa and Rhinox try again and again to get Cheetor's spark pulsating.

Finally, at the last possible second, Cheetor’s spark starts to pulsate again, slowly getting stronger and stronger.

A collective sigh of relief escapes everyone present.

At that moment, Rattrap and Dinobot enter.

“How’s Spots?”

Hippa looks at her young friend, who is now in a peaceful recharging cycle.

“He gave us a scare just now, but he’ll be fine.”

“You got that antidote here just in time,” Rhinox said. “That was good thinking having Airrazor fly it here ahead of you.”

“He needs to rest for now, but he should be fine,” Hippa said.

~

Over the next several days, Cheetor sleeps peacefully for the first time in over a month. He's been moved to his quarters where he can recharge in peace.

Optimus keeps vigil by Cheetor’s side, refusing to leave it for more than a moment to give the others their assignments for the day. Despite Hippa’s reassurance that he just needs rest, Optimus is still terrified that they might lose him still.

He holds the younger mech’s hand in his own as he waits for the youngster to awaken.

~

Cheetor’s optics flicker online.

He blinks them a few times as the ceiling of his quarters come into focus.

The sun hasn’t risen yet so the sky was just starting to filter light in through Cheetor’s window.

He turns his head to see why his arm feels so heavy and sees Optimus recharging with his head cradled on one of his arms on Cheetor’s berth. Cheetor’s hand is safely tucked inside it.

Cheetor feels warmth in his spark as he sees the worried expression on the older mech’s handsome face as he sleeps.

Gently, Cheetor squeezes the hand that held his.

Optimus stirs.

He opens his garnet colored optics and sees Cheetor’s tan ones looking back at him with a soft smile on his face.

The Maximal captain feels a relieved smile spread across his own face as he picks his head up.

"Hey..."

“Bigbot…”

Optimus feels his smile get wider as he fights back tears of joy.

He never thought he could ever feel so happy to hear that nickname.

“How do you feel?”

Cheetor blinks his optics at the ceiling.

“Better. Much better.”

Optimus holds Cheetor's hand tight inside both of his.

“I’m glad. You scared the pit out of m… us!”

Cheetor looks at him.

“I’m sorry."

Cheetor’s apology is like an energon knife through Optimus’ spark.

After everything Optimus and the others put Cheetor through, after brushing the youngster off and making him feel like he was useless; he's apologizing for scaring them?

Optimus shakes his head.

“Don’t be. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did.”

“We both weren’t ourselves that night,” Cheetor points out.

Optimus looks at Cheetor.

"That doesn't excuse the way I treated you. I always told you my door was always open to you, but the one time you tried, I shut it in your face. From now on, you don’t even have to knock first. Just come in. There’s a couch in my quarters you can sleep on if you want to.”

Cheetor looks away from Optimus.

“I don’t want to be a bother you."

Optimus gives Cheetor’s hand a squeeze as he makes Cheetor look at him again.

“You have _**never** _been a bother to me, Cheetor. Ever. I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”

“But I am.”

Energon tears trickle down his face as he speaks.

“All I do is mess things up. I’m just in the way.”

He rubs his fist over his optics, ashamed that he's crying again.

Optimus looks at Cheetor remorsefully as he realizes that this ran deeper than just recent events.

Optimus moves to sit on the edge of Cheetor’s berth and gently, but firmly, pulls Cheetor’s hand away from his face.

“Cheetor, listen to me."

Cheetor’s tan optics meet Optimus’ red ones to show he was listening.

“Do you remember that day we were ambushed?”

Cheetor nods.

“That arrow was aimed at me, Cheetor. This should be me lying here, not you. But when you saw Tarantulas aiming at me, you took the blow for me. You saved my life, Cheetor.”

Optimus watches Cheetor take a ragged breath as more tears run down his face.

“Do you know how important you are to us? Do you know the effect you have on the rest of us?”

Cheetor shakes his head.

“When we realized what was happening to you, I immediately sent Tigatron, Rattrap, and Dinobot to retrieve the antidote for you. Did you know that the entire time, Dinobot and Rattrap didn’t once argue with each other like they usually do? They were so focused on getting the antidote as quick as possible that they were willing to work together without an issue. Don’t you see? You’re an important part of our team. Your youthful optimism and unbreakable spirit is what keeps us going. Your unshakeable loyalty to me is what keeps me leading. You are a valuable member of my crew Cheetor. Don’t ever think otherwise, ok?”

Cheetor sits up and hugs Optimus around the middle, making the Maximal leader grunt in surprise. Optimus wraps his arms around the youngster and holds him tight, overjoyed to have him alive and well.

‘Thank you Primus… thank you…'

As he hugs Cheetor close, Optimus looks out the window of Cheetor’s quarters as the sun peaks over the horizon, painting the sky with every shade of pink, purple, and yellow imaginable.

It's breathtaking.

He thinks back to what Cheetor said the evening they had the encounter with Tarantulas about finding joy in the littlest things. He hadn’t really understood what Cheetor meant when he said it.

Now, as he holds the younger mech, Optimus understands.

He wasn’t just talking about enjoying the little things; he was talking about not taking life, or people, for granted.

Anything could happen in this war, but that doesn’t mean that they should stop living. That’s why Cheetor always points out things like this to him. He was trying to help him see the precious beauty in life.

Optimus looks back at down at the younger mech in his arms.

Optimus is glad to have met the youngster. Cheetor is teaching Optimus, just as much as Optimus is teaching him. He's like a little ray of sunshine, Optimus’ little ray of sunshine.

Optimus smiles down at him.

‘I may not be able to stop your nightmares,' He thinks. 'But I can try to ensure you don’t suffer through them alone.’

**Author's Note:**

> "Hey Katie, didn't you use this exact same plot idea for Voltron?"
> 
> Why yes! Yes I did!


End file.
